Neighbor: Divorce might have sparked shooting in North Las Vegas

Neighbor: Divorce might have sparked shooting in North Las Vegas

North Las Vegas police responded to a call at 2039 Cardigan Avenue Tuesday night, Jan. 14, 2014. A 49-year-old man was found dead inside the home, which is near Gowan Road and Clayton Street. (Steven Slivka/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Neighbor: Divorce might have sparked shooting in North Las Vegas

North Las Vegas police responded to a call at 2039 Cardigan Avenue Tuesday night, Jan. 14, 2014. A 49-year-old man was found dead inside the home, which is near Gowan Road and Clayton Street. (Steven Slivka/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

By STEVEN SLIVKALAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

A neighbor said a pending divorce might have led a man to shoot his wife and daughter before he died from a gunshot wound Tuesday night in North Las Vegas.

North Las Vegas police responded to the two-story house on 2039 Cardigan Avenue, near Clayton Street and Gowan Road, about 9:15 p.m. on a domestic dispute call involving a 49-year-old man believed to be armed and barricaded inside a home, spokeswoman officer Chrissie Coon said.

Clark County records show the current homeowner as Rachchusiri Soontorn. No divorce records, pending or otherwise, could be found on file with the county under that name.

Next-door neighbor Rosalina Carlin said the family would have barbecues in their backyard once a week, but five weeks ago they stopped.

“They would barbecue every Tuesday night, and they’d always tell us to come over,” she said.

The couple was in the middle of a divorce, Carlin said. Their house went up for sale five weeks ago.

“They were very friendly and very helpful, but I would see them arguing outside a lot,” she said.

Carlin heard the wife say that her husband was very controlling and that he owned guns.

On Tuesday night about 8 p.m., the family was in the backyard talking as usual in their lit backyard, Carlin recalled.

About an hour later, everything changed.

“I heard three gunshots and a lot of screaming,” Carlin said.

Authorities said the man was arguing with his wife at about 9:15 p.m. when their 24-year-old daughter tried to intervene. The man pulled out a firearm and allegedly shot his daughter and then turned the gun on his wife, police said.

Their two teenage children, a 15-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl, fled to the roof when they heard the shots and were uninjured.

“I saw them on the roof,” Carlin said. “They were so scared. They had to have been up there for almost three hours.”

An elderly man in the home at the time of the shooting was not injured and was able to escape before police arrived, Coon said.

All six family members were residents of the home.

According to police, as officers approached the house they saw a 42-year-old woman lying on the floor inside, severely injured. Officers pulled the woman to a safe location to be treated by medical personnel.

She sustained multiple gunshot wounds and was transported to University Medical Center in critical condition.

The SWAT team entered the house at about 2:30 a.m. and found the man dead from an apparent gunshot wound.

Another neighbor, Juan Montero, said he didn’t know the family well, but he would see them working on their cars in the driveway.

“They spent a lot of time in the garage. Every weekend they’d be watching TV and drinking beer in out there,” said Montero. “Everybody knows everybody here. I’m just shocked. They were very nice people.”

Review-Journal writer Colton Lochhead contributed to this report. Follow him on Twitter @ColtonLochhead.

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